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Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Still tumbl'n

I continue to dip my feet in the Tumblr water. I even came up with a name for the thing, Driftwood upon the Bosphorus. Because, unlike the shores of Byzantium themselves, the driftwood that floats by on the Strait of Bosphorus is only transitory, there one moment, and then gone by with another piece floating up soon behind it. Or something like that. It sounded more poetic earlier today, when I thought of it right after my first cup of coffee.

I also came up with a masthead image, which clearly has nothing at all to do with driftwood, water, shores, or anything else nautical. But then, I haven't used nautically-themed mastheads round here in a long time, either, so there's that.

Anyhow, I think I'm kind of understanding the notion of Tumblr. A Facebook and blogging friend, Steph Waller, inquired about it on FB, and I responded thus:

It looks to me like a blogging platform that is more geared to short posts, pictures, videos, and that sort of thing than Blogger or Wordpress, which handle those things but are really intended for the posting of text. A lot of bloggers I know have "real" blogs and Tumblrs where they just post pictures and whatnot that doesn't require lots of comment. Sort of a blogging "tapas bar", to make a really bad analogy. I'm sure you can use it to market your book, though!

(Yes, she has a book to promote. Note to self: buy a copy of Steph's book.)

Find images that stir your soul, that speak to your very core even if you can't figure out exactly why. Download them, scan them, snap a picture of them with your camera, then upload them to your tumblr to share with the world.

They will eventually form a collage that will tell people more truth about you than you will be able to tell with words.

Or you can just load it up with LOL cats.

OK! That's a good answer. Also good, and much more succinct, is Roger's answer to "What do I do with a Tumblr page?":

Damned if I know.

Maybe not helpful, but honest, which should never be discounted. From Paul:

I had heard of Tumblr, but had no idea what it was, so I did, you know, what you do: I Googled it. As far as I can tell, Tumblr can best be described as, "TweetBookFlickBlogr." Is it possible to be all things to all people? Time will tell.

I like M.D. Jackson's idea. Or maybe you could devote it exclusively to music. The world needs more music blogs.

This sounds great, it really does, but...it should be relatively clear to anyone who reads this blog with any regularity at all to know that I can't devote myself to exclusively anything! So Driftwood upon the Bosphorus is likely to be similar to Byzantium's Shores, and go all over the place.

I agree with MD. I use them to inspire posts and to collect images for posts. I look at my archive at times and I am proud of my collection and what it says about me. Sure, lots of Selena pics but that is okay.

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Quotables

"Make your country...into a land that understands more than only war and righteous piety. Allow space in your lives for more than battle chants to inspire soldiers. Teach your people to...understand a garden, the reason for a fountain, music."

-Guy Gavriel Kay,The Lions of Al-Rassan

Writing is magic, as much the water of life as any creative art. The water is free. So drink.Drink and be filled up.

Stephen King,On Writing

We speak for Earth. Our obligation to survive is owed not just to ourselves but also to that Cosmos, ancient and vast, from which we spring.